Renfrewshire’s hospitality industry has suffered another blow – as the cost-of-living crisis makes trading not “viable” for small local businesses.
Blend coffee lounge announced on Facebook that its Causeyside Street store will be closing its doors in the “next few weeks” after eight years of serving the community.
Managing director Alan Baird took to social media in an emotional video, stating that the Paisley coffee shop was “proud” of the choices it had made and that all of the staff’s lives had been “enriched” by interactions with customers who had become like “friends and family”.
Paisley born-and-bred Alan said: “There’s moments in life that you look back on that you’re just so proud of, proud of the choices you made at the time.
“And eight years ago when we made the choice to come to Paisley, it’s one of the proudest moments – and especially for someone from Paisley – to be able to come back to my home town and be able to invest in the town that invested so much in me as a kid and as a young person.
“Not only that, but to be able to provide a space for the community to gather. For us, it wasn’t just about providing coffee. It was about building relationships and investing in people.
“We never wanted to make it just about a transaction, we always wanted to make it about a relationship.
“But we also recognise that everything is for a reason and, sadly, we’ve come to the conclusion that our time in Paisley is coming to an end, and so over the next few weeks we will we wrapping things up here.
“We very much hope it’s not the end of the book, but just the end of the chapter, and that one day we will hopefully be back. But times as everybody knows have got challenging financially for many businesses and financially for many individuals, so it’s just not viable for us to remain open.”
Alan wants staff and customers to celebrate the store – and cherish the “memories made” over the years.
And so he has placed a book at the till asking customers to leave notes of their fondest memories so he and the staff can look back at these in years to come.
“We don’t want to be sad about this,” he continued. “We will grieve closing those doors for the last time, but we also want to go out with a celebration. We want it to be a celebration of life, a celebration of joy and beauty and all that Blend has come to represent in the past eight years.
“Will you help us celebrate to go out with a bang to go out with great memories shared and great memories made? One final thing to say is thank you, thank you, thank you – we appreciate everything.
“Without your support, without your encouragement, without your custom, without your friendship we would not even have been here for the seven-and-a-half years and so for that we say thanks.
“But let’s celebrate these final few weeks. Come together and we will go out with great memories made.”
Blend’s announcement comes just days after a popular Barrhead restaurant also announced it is set to close its doors after three years due to the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
Bentley’s Grill, ranked as the 13th-best restaurant in the Glasgow area on Tripadvisor, announced it will close “with a heavy heart”. The Kelburn Street eaterie shared the news with its “loved and valued customers” on social media.
A spokesperson for the restaurant and bar said that it was “impossible to continue” due to “spiralling costs”. They wrote that the decision had been made with “much sadness”.
Don't miss the latest Renfrewshire headlines – sign up to our free daily newsletter here
